Posts Tagged ‘Bike Education’

Because my city, Richardson, is such a Bike Friendly Community, I thought it would be great to hold a couple of Traffic Skills 101 classes this fall.

Traffic Skills 101 (TS101) gives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. Through TS101, students learn how to conduct bicycle safety checks, fix a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques. We recommended this class for adults and children above age fourteen. The curriculum is fast-paced, and prepares cyclists for a full understanding of cycling on Richardson streets.

Given that our time with Andy was limited and wanting to keep this visit focused, we set up two meetings with just a few key instructors, advocates, industry leaders and city officials.

Bike Education:
The first meeting – which was held Sunday evening at Gail’s house – was about the current education program, were several local LCIs (League Cycling Instructors) met with Andy for dinner and a ’round table’ discussion. We discussed ways to make the program better and how to reach a larger audience. Quite a few good ideas were discussed and many of us left the meeting inspired and ready to move the program forward.

At this meeting, city officials were able to openly discuss the efforts that have been made towards bicycling infrastructure, issues and concerns with the Bike Friendly Communities Program and ways to get clear benchmarks moving forward. It was evident that many of the city officials weren’t expecting a ranking based on the current program, but wanted to see some sort of recognition for the expenses and efforts made so far. They felt that having this would help motivate and inspire city management and council to continue investing in bicycling education and infrastructure.

Given the limited amount of time, we were able to have a good conversation with Andy Clarke, and he was able to assure us that the League of American Bicyclists was listening and willing to help us achieve our goals of becoming bike friendly communities. It was nice to be able to have this direct link to the League to make it clear that cycling is growing in north Texas and we are a strong community of bicycle riders.

Last weekend I got to help teach another Traffic Skill 101 class, at the Allen Community Outreach center, in Allen, Texas. It was a good group of about a dozen students, mixed in experience and skill levels. We also had some graduates of the course, visit and observe, in preparation to taking their own LCI class next month.

I hope to see more of these classes open up this year and get more cyclists on the right track to becoming better and safer riders. It’s also great that students are striving to become instructors. Below, are some pics from the class. You can also find the entire set here.

Traffic Skills 101 (TS101) gives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. Through TS101, students learn how to conduct bicycle safety checks, fix a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques. We recommended this class for adults and children above age fourteen.

When: Sunday, Nov 24 (that’s this weekend!!)Time: 7:50am – 3:00pmWhere: Allen Community Outreach
801 E. Main Street, Allen, TX 75002Cost: Cost:$ 20.00 for BikeDFW members
$ 50.00 for others. (If you pay the $ 50.00, you will get a free one (1) year membership in BikeDFW)
Information and registration:CLICK HERE

OR

When: Sunday, Dec 8Time: 7:50am – 3:00pmWhere: Allen Community Outreach
801 E. Main Street, Allen, TX 75002Cost: Cost:$ 20.00 for BikeDFW members
$ 50.00 for others. (If you pay the $ 50.00, you will get a free one (1) year membership in BikeDFW)
Information and registration:CLICK HERE

What to bring:
– Tuition
– Bike in good working condition
– Helmet
– Lunch money

PLEASE NOTE:
The classroom portion is done online at www.bikeed.org prior to the actual class and you should expect to spend 1.5 – 2 hours doing this. When you register PLEASE use the DALLAS area as your location in the pull down menu.

Last Saturday, August 24, a group of BikeDFW board members and volunteers helped out the City of Allen with the Back to School Bash, at First United Methodist Church. The event offered lower income families in Allen a chance to get physicals, schools supplies, haircuts, participate in a Bike Rodeo and more, all at no cost.

With some help from the Allen Turning Boys 2 Men Leadership Group, we set up a Bicycling Skills 123 Youth, Bike Rodeo in the parking lot to teach some basic handling and safety skills. Many of the kids weren’t able to show up on their bicycles, so we ended up having many of them run or walk the course. They were still able to learn the fundamentals of bike safety and practice their hand signals.

Also, McKinney Velo Club partnered with Texas Medical Association and purchased bicycle helmets for us to give away to any kids that needed them. I’m happy to say that we gave away over 120 helmets. Overall, it was a good day for bicycle safety in Allen, Texas. We hope to bring more of these event throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Last weekend, I worked with BikeDFW and proudly participated at the Allen Family Bike Day – helping with a Youth Skills 123 course at the event. Headed by League Cycling Instructor Dorothy Zarbo, I was part of a team of LCIs which also included fellow LCI training graduates, Betsy Veneziano and Francis Schommer. We worked with local elementary and middle school students to run a successful Bike Rodeo for Allen kids.

We had a great time working with the kids, who in turn, helped others learn some basic safety skills. Kids learned how to signal their stops, left & right turns as well as how to yield in traffic. Since helmets were required on the course, some were loaned out by the City of Allen to those who forgot theirs. I’m hoping parents were inspired to remind their kids to continue wearing theirs.

I love doing these types of events, and I hope to do more across the DFW Metroplex.

Last Saturday was a pretty big day for me. I got to help teach a Traffic Skills 101 class for the first time. Co-instructing with me, was fellow League of American BicyclistsLCI graduate, Jenny. As recent graduates, we both have to co-instruct two classes before we can teach on our own. We were there to assist head instructor-extrodinare Mike and veteran instructor Brad, with 11 students in Garland.

Preparation:
As part of our instructor training, Jenny and I had to scope out locations for our parking lot drills, as well as map out the road course. We took a field trip to the area and decided that a local DART parking lot would work best for the parking lot drills. While out there, we decided to drive the road course that Jenny had plotted using Google maps – addressing any potential issues and altering the course as needed. We wanted to get a wide selection of roads to give us the opportunity to teach the students about a variety of road conditions. Also, since the road course was new to both of us, we returned to ride it the weekend before the class – just to make sure.

Registration:
On the day of the class, Jenny and I carpooled. With bikes balanced on the bike rack, we rolled into the parking lot of local bike shop, Don Johle’s Bike World. My car was full of gear, forms, certificates and – most important – breakfast. The students were already gathering in front of the shop, ready to learn. So, after getting everybody introduced, registered, fed and ABC Quick Checked, we all rode to the DART parking lot to start the parking lot drills.

Parking Lot Drills:Since Jenny and I were co-teaching our first class, Mike let us take the lead on giving instructions. Jenny and I tag-teamed this task, each helping the other fill in the gaps of information that the other might have missed. Once each drill was discussed and demonstrated, the group would split into two for practice runs. I worked with Mike and Jenny worked with Brad – who happened to be one of our TS101 instructors, when we took the class.

This group of students did an amazing job with the parking lot drills, which made the instructor’s job easy.

Road Course:
After lunch at Taco Cabana, it was time to do the road portion of the course. This can be taught a few different ways, as long as you are exposing your students to a variety of road conditions that they will encounter when they are riding on their own. We opted to ride as one group, while giving the students a few small exercises of riding solo. This gave them the opportunity to individually read, process and execute their routes using the information learned with the online course, as well as what we taught them with the parking lot drills.

Again, this group of students were outstanding and did an exceptional job at completing this portion of the class.

When finished with the road course, the group returned to the bike shop, where the instructors were able to evaluate each student. Each scored very well and earned their Traffic Skills 101 Certificate.

Both Jenny and I appreciated the chance to co-instruct with great teachers, as well as this group of fantastic students. We couldn’t have ask for a better class to be our first. We hope that as we teach more of these classes, we get more refined and are better prepared to confidently teach on our own.